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Topic: Jarlsberg (Read 2243 times)

KTown, don't be surprised if the Jarlsberg excretes oils during the warming phase. Mine did, and that's really what kept it moist and from cracking. Eventually (after the 6 weeks at room temp), the rind was not oily but just perfect for munching on .

Show us a photo when you get to 4-6 weeks warming phase please! Doesn't it smell just wonderful too?!

I cut into my Jarl a few days ago. Quite the interesting cheese! It has a great traditional nutty flavour but finished with a sharp tang. Almost sour. This has gotten slightly less apparent as it ages further in the Ziploc bag.Anyone have any input on this, or has anyone had similar experiences ?

I have 2 Jarlsbergs in my "cave" at 65 degrees now for the last week, Intially, After drying for 3 days, they were coated w/ liquid cheese wax that has Mold inhibitor, which was allowed to dry for a day, then they were vacuum packed. They spent 4 weeks at 50 degrees first, am about 5 weeks out now, in the warm phase , and have some mild swelling, nothing too severe though. My question is this: Is vacuum packing in some way inhibiting hole formation ? Would the gas produced just push out on the vacuum pack and allow the cheese to still expand. Or, Should I allow the cheese to breath at the warm phase. I guess I figured that the cheese is purely anerobic at this point, and maybe this is inhibiting P. shermanii from producing more gas. What is the best answer?

Also a Jarlsberg newbie but I've read here that 65 degrees is cool for good eye formation. Low 70s is where you want to be. Check out the other Jarlsberg threads. I think it was something like "hopefully with eyes this time"

In that same thread there was a suggestion that the cheese should be uncoated until after the warm phase since you're just going to blow the wax apart.

I think you should open the vacuum bag to encourage eye formation. In woodworking we use vacuum bagging to clamp veneer to the substrate. The bag is pressing on your cheese with a force of several psi depending on how hard a vacuum your machine pulled.

I have 2 Jarlsbergs in my "cave" at 65 degrees now for the last week, Intially, After drying for 3 days, they were coated w/ liquid cheese wax that has Mold inhibitor, which was allowed to dry for a day, then they were vacuum packed. They spent 4 weeks at 50 degrees first, am about 5 weeks out now, in the warm phase , and have some mild swelling, nothing too severe though. My question is this: Is vacuum packing in some way inhibiting hole formation ? Would the gas produced just push out on the vacuum pack and allow the cheese to still expand. Or, Should I allow the cheese to breath at the warm phase. I guess I figured that the cheese is purely anerobic at this point, and maybe this is inhibiting P. shermanii from producing more gas. What is the best answer?

My limited experience with Jarlsberg and Maasdam (a close goutaler cousin) has been:

Don't wax it. Swelling just cracks the wax.

Right out of the brine the cheese goes into the cave for a Cool Phase for a week, then out at room temperature for the Warm Phase, typically 4-6 weeks.

If sealed in a vacuum bag, the PS will continue to produce gas and the bag will balloon up. May not be the optimum environment for the PS.

It is most likely post acidification. Give it more time to age. The only down side is you might get some cracking in the body. Swiss is very sensitive to pH and temperature. You have to hit all of the markers throughout the make and, most importantly, eye formation and cold conditioning.

Don't worry, I know pHDs at multi-national corporations that still pull their hair out over this product. It's very difficult to do consistently.

Due to helveticus. Switch to another thermo, not thermo C. Ditto everything Francois said. It's not easy. We're talking .08-.10 difference in pH between excellent and poor quality product, on top of everything else.

« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 05:49:53 PM by linuxboy »

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Taking an extended leave (until 2015) from the forums to build out my farm and dairy. Please e-mail or PM if you need anything.

Also we've found that residual lactose levels are critical for proper aging. In our method of production you have to consume all lactose by the end of eye formation. If there is any left, and I mean even trace amounts, when you go into cold conditioning there is going to be problems.